How Celtics’ Payton Pritchard became NBA’s 6MOY favorite: ‘Unrelenting’ toughness and ‘supreme’ confidence

Payton Pritchard burst into the national consciousness with a pair of stunning buzzer-beaters in the 2024 NBA Finals, including one from beyond halfcourt at halftime of the Boston Celtics’ title-clinching Game 5 victory. But for all of his long-range exploits, he doesn’t want to be known as a specialist. 

“It kind of bothers me if anybody ever classifies me as just a shooter, because I’m not,” Pritchard said. “I want to be a ball player. Somebody that can do it all, every aspect.”

Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy used a different descriptor. “Payton’s a badass,” Hardy said. 

Pritchard, 26, has been one of the league’s best snipers this season. But if you’re picturing a standstill shooter whose primary purpose is to space the floor for his superstar teammates, you have the wrong idea. 

“He’s fearless, he’s incredibly tough, physical,” said Hardy, who coached Pritchard while on Ime Udoka’s staff in Boston. “His work ethic is second to none. I’ve never been around a player who is as obsessive as Payton is.”

That’s the kind of characterization Pritchard can get behind. “I’m somebody that loves to hoop,” Pritchard said. “Every time that I step on the floor, I like to leave it all out there.” 

Pritchard is averaging 15.5 points — up from 9.6 last season — along with 2.8 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game for the defending champs, who are 11-3 entering Tuesday’s matchup with the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers. He’s the early betting favorite for Sixth Man of the Year (FanDuel Sportsbook listed him with +190 odds as of Tuesday morning), and that’s only partially because of his increased minutes and shot attempts. He has raised his efficiency and his usage rate at the same time, a sign of genuine improvement. Pritchard said he’ll never “sacrifice playing the right way” to win the award. 

He’s making a career-high 41.9% of his 8.9 3-point attempts per game, putting him right on the cusp of a historic club. In NBA history, only Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Damian Lillard have shot 40% for an entire season on at least nine 3s per game. Pritchard is at 52.4% on corner 3s, and boasts a 66% true shooting percentage, which is tied for eighth in the league among players taking at least 10 shots per game. 

In short, the shooting has been absurd. 

“He can get into the paint and score, he can score from 3,” Celtics guard Jrue Holiday said. “Shit, he can score from half-court.” As a result, the Celtics’ vaunted offense has been 6.4 points per 100 possessions better with Pritchard on the court than without him. 

Few athletes take the offseason as seriously as Pritchard, who is known to pay overseas players to train with him so he can get realistic live reps. He says he sees the summer not as a time to rest, but as “another opportunity to add something new to my game.” Shooting off the move and off the bounce were key focuses this year, and the work is paying off. 

When Pritchard shoots directly off a screen, he’s scoring an outrageous 2.143 points per possession, per Synergy Sports. Off the dribble, he’s at 34.7% on 3.5 attempts per game, up from 30.6% on 1.4 per game last season. Overall, he’s tied with Malik Beasley for the eighth-most 3s (52) in the league. The only nit one could pick is that he hasn’t made one of his patented buzzer-beating heaves yet (at least not one that counted).

Pritchard is playing more than ever thanks to his all-around development, even in seemingly minor areas such as fitness. “It’s not just the offense that helps us,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said before praising Pritchard’s ability to play for extended stretches, which allows him to experiment with different substitution patterns. 

“The thing that’s most important,” Hardy said, “is he has the respect of all of his teammates.” Luke Kornet called the 6-foot-1 Pritchard “the best rebounder at that size I’ve ever seen.” Holiday said Pritchard is someone you “love to play with” because he pushes the pace and makes opponents work on both ends. Jaylen Brown praised Pritchard’s “big-time” ability to “be ready when his name is called.” 

For the Celtics, Pritchard is an “energy source,” Hardy said. For opponents, he is the exact opposite. 

“It’s almost like a game of chicken with him,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “He picks whoever up full-court and basically sends a message: ‘I’m coming after you the entire night on either end.’ And if you’re not up to that challenge, he will eat you up.”

For all of Pritchard’s skills and work ethic, he wouldn’t be an NBA champion and a 6MOY candidate without the “supreme confidence” that Jayson Tatum first recognized more than a decade ago when they were both still in high school. Hardy saw it, too, when he watched Pritchard play one-on-one with Tatum and Brown after every practice without backing down. 

That confidence starts with shooting and extends to every facet of his game. “Every time I shoot it, I really believe, no matter the distance, that it’s going in,” Pritchard said.

As superb as Pritchard’s shooting stats are, they don’t capture what Kornet called his “unrelenting” approach to the game. “He’s always trying to win every possession,” Kornet said, adding that he’ll offer resistance defensively against bigger players when “a lot of guys his size will give up.” Holiday, a two-time NBA champ and two-time gold medalist, said the way Pritchard plays “is winning basketball.”

“I love Payton,” Hardy said. “I have so much respect for him because — you talk about people who are maximizing their talent — he’s not the biggest guy, he’s not the fastest guy, but he’s a tough motherf—–, man.”